The head of the Missouri Department of Revenue says his agency is not forwarding electronic copies of documents from Missouri citizens to the federal government.
Director Brian Long told the House Committee on Government Oversight that once he heard the allegations, he questioned other officials and employees within the Department of Revenue about it.
“I was repeatedly and independently assured that these scanned source documents, as part of the license process, are not, nor is there any plans, to share them, again, with the federal government or any third-party vendor,” Long said.
Committee member, Republican Todd Richardson of Poplar Bluff says while he believes Long, he also has concerns about the amount of data the Department of Revenue is collecting on Missouri citizens.
“I’ve got concerns just taking what the department testified to on face value,” Richardson said. “The collecting of these source documents and storing them in a state database, whether that information is being shared with anyone or not, I’ve got deep concerns about the state collecting and holding that much data.”
Richardson is sponsoring a bill that would bar the Department of Revenue from retaining copies of source documents used to obtain driver’s licenses, conceal-carry endorsements and other licenses. Some Republican lawmakers have accused the agency of forwarding scanned documents to the Department of Homeland Security, and suggested that it’s part of an effort by the Obama Administration to collect data on gun owners in Missouri.